


A rose by any other name

by Alee1997



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Disney Princesses, Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Genre: Angst, Childhood Memories, During Canon, Identity Issues, Light Angst, Loss of Identity, Magic, Name Changes, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:35:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26451955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alee1997/pseuds/Alee1997
Summary: Briar Rose was a normal peasant girl like any other, until her sixteenth birthday, when her world and identity had been changed forever. A brief look of Sleeping Beauty through the princesses eyes.
Kudos: 4





	A rose by any other name

Briar Roses childhood had been one filled with mud splattered feet, crowns of wildflowers, and a belly full of berries, the red and purple juices staining her little face like a fine rouge.  
Aunt Flora would complain about the dirt tracked in the house, while Fauna only giggled as she helped comb the twigs from Roses gold curls.  
Her adolescence been one of reading thick books from atop branches, each page smelled of the flowers she had pressed into them like bookmarks. The fresh water streams cooled her down in the lazy summers, and winters were spent by the fire while Merryweather filled her with sweats.  
Then Rose turned sixteen.  
Her dreams had long been filled with dashing young men and adventure to far off lands, yet Rose had never known a place beyond the forest nor a soul that was not her three caretakers. Then, as if by fate a handsome stranger had found her and she was thrilled to join them for dinner.  
Only her three aunts did not share her excitment. Instead the three women who had raised her merely shook their heads and looked at each other in concern.  
Then those damning words had been spoken.  
"Princess Aroura." Flora said in a manner as if Rose should have held her head higher now. No…that wasn't her name anymore, was it? She had felt as if the world had been swept underneath her feet.   
Everything...everything was a lie. Briar Rose was a peasant who ran bare foot through the trees and bathed in rivers and danced with strange boys. Aroura was… right now Aroura felt like a hollow shell of a girl. She couldn't be a princess. She couldn't possibly take on that responsibility, that power, she had only just met a nice young man and now her aunts were telling her she'd had a husband by the end of the night. 

All those years… all sixteen years of her life. The rules, the books… all of it was to ensure that she would be ready for this news.  
Rose or Aurora, whatever her actual name was, couldn't comprehend it and yet Everything about her upbringing made sense, like a puzzle that had finally been put together, only to be horrified at the image. 

She ran up the steps and threw herself onto the bed, a sobs making her whole body tremble.

Between gasping breaths she faintly heard Aunt Merryweather, "And we thought she'd be so happy."

Aroura or Briar Rose, it didnt seem to matter anymore. The one thing she was certain of in that moment was that she doubted she would ever be happy again. As she laid there in her bed, she wanted nothing more than to go back to that morning when she under her covers, still dreaming of dashing young men and a life that was hers to control. To dream forever and never wake up.  


The castle was silent as a grave. The darkness of the tower steps engulfing her as she walked up, head held low beneath her hood. Was it always like this? She wondered for the thousandth time what it would be like to be mistress of this gloomy place. With it's dark stone walls and winding staircases. The longer she went up the stairs the more it felt like those stone walls were closing in and she had never wanted to flee for the forest more than ever.

But even that had subsided when they finally reached the room atop the tower, and she had seen the balcony that showed the sky. She almost ran to it, to get some sort of taste of the fresh air, only for Fauna to shut the blinds. Flora to lead her to a seat facing a mirror. She stared at it blankly, the fine dress, the perfectly curled hair, the fine rouge that tinted her lips and cheeks. This was not her. This was not Briar Rose, despite how badly she wanted it to be.

The crown that Flora put on her head was light as a feather and seemed to shine in the dim room. Her first look at Princess Aroura. Violet eyes rimmed red from hours of sobbing. A blank broken stare. Feet that ached in their fine slippers as they yearned for the cool earth so far away. This was who she was now. For what was probably the dozenth that day, she fell apart. Every inch of her shaking with each tear.

She didn't notice her aunts leaving. Didnt notice the the temperature drop or the ominous sound that came from the fireplace. But as she lofted her head off the dresser, that sound grew louder and louder in her ears. The haunting green light beckoned her. Called her to follow. The part of her that remained sane cried out, wanted to run. But the part of her that green light took hold of made her move one foot in front the other. It was that desire to leave this place, to reject the crown on her head and this new name. The desire to choose that made her move forward. 

As she slowly ascended the stairs, she could faintly hear her aunts call her. Calling for Rose. 

Rose stared at the spinning wheel, its needles tip glinting like a freshly sharpened knife. That piece in the back of her mind recoiled. As if it knew something she did not. A fear she did not know she had. At yet that force that had brought her here demanded she keep going towards it.

As Rose reached out, she heard Merryweather cry out. "Dont touch anything!" Rose stopped for for moment. Only for a voice to ring out in the darkness.

Touch the spindle… a woman's voice commanded. Touch it I say. Rose did not want to do it. That fear now latching on to her. Yet that dark force whispered in her ear. The promise of no more suffering or princes or stone towers. Only dreams. Was that not what she wanted? To be at peace and dance in her forest forever? All she had to do was touch that spindle…

Then all she knew was darkness.


End file.
